Make Physical Exercise A Part of Your Lifestyle

 Routine physical exercise provides numerous benefits like improving energy, sleep, and health. It also reduces stress and depression. However, mere knowledge is not enough to motivate you enough to start exercising and stick to it. Healthy habits like exercising or eating a balanced diet cannot be formed in a day or a few weeks. It requires a smart strategy that must be followed to reach the fitness goal.

Most people start exercising but discontinue in a month or two due to reasons like hectic schedule, health issues, lack of confidence or even motivation. But there is hope for everyone who want to start a fitness plan – even for those who have never exercised, irrespective of age and fitness level.

Here we discuss some smart tips to start exercising and make it part of your healthy lifestyle habits.

Tips to make physical exercise an everyday habit

Start with small goals

Healthy habits start with the premise that something is better than nothing. Taking a walk outdoor is better than sitting on the couch doing nothing. Try low intensity activities to begin with and move on to moderate exercise. Remember, you don’t need vigorous intensity exercise unless you are a professional athlete, sportsman or competing for the marathon. Starting small helps to meet the goal, which gives motivation to continue and confidence to set higher goals.

Set automatic triggers

Make exercising part of your daily lifestyle habits with automatic triggers. Use simple strategies like keeping sneakers visible to remind you to go outdoors for a walk, jogging or running. Set an alarm to tell you it’s time to exercise, or head straight to the gym after office. These small strategies act as triggers to remind you to exercise every day. After a few months it becomes a part of your routine and you don’t have to make conscious efforts.

Look forward to a reward

Weight loss, feeling energetic and better sleep are long term benefits of physical exercises. When you start with a moderate exercise program, give yourself an immediate reward for successfully completing the workout goal. Choose a reward you really love, like a relaxed warm water bath or your favorite coffee after successfully completing the day’s fitness goal.

Choose an activity you enjoy

Choose activities that fit into your lifestyle and capabilities. It should be something that you like doing and gives you happiness. Weight lifting or running is not the only form of exercise, you can opt for. Think as per your interest – hiking, ballroom dancing, horse riding, gymnastics, aerobics or martial arts are good options for workouts. Just remember to start with a moderate exercise plan to prevent injury.

Start moving with ‘exergames’

Make your workout sessions fun time with an exergaming app. These video games are played in standing position and you need to move around. The players get into a simulation activity, like dancing, playing tennis, cricket or skateboarding and burn calories that are equivalent to brisk walking. Once you are confident you can try doing the real thing to make it your healthy lifestyle habits.

Workout with family and friends

Include family and friends in your workout plan to make it fun, and get motivation from them. Pick activities that most of them enjoy to get company in your journey to forming healthy habits. Enrol for water aerobics or join a dance class for some fun workout sessions. You may seek a partner to play tennis, join a soccer, volleyball or basketball team, and meet up once or twice a week for a friendly game.

The takeaway

If you still find it difficult to adopt an exercise program, then think of it as a physical activity that you have to do in your daily routine. Take stairs instead of elevators, do your household chores at brisk pace, walk or bike instead of using the car, move around in office as often as possible, and exercise at home in between watching TV shows, games or movies. Just keep your body moving.